


The Silencing of Phineas Flynn

by HidingintheInkwell



Series: Careless Words [1]
Category: Phineas and Ferb
Genre: Crappy Project Partners, Ferb yells at Phineas, Gen, Protective Perry, Stressed!Ferb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-10-01 00:09:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20455841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HidingintheInkwell/pseuds/HidingintheInkwell
Summary: Ferb was having a bad day. It was still no excuse, but it was at least a reason. Really, though, it had been a bad week. When Phineas comes out in his usual cheerfulness and just won't stop talking, Ferb snaps and yells at him to shut up. It works for a while, but at the end of the day, Ferb realizes what he'd done in his uncharacteristic bought of anger and has to find his brother and make things right______________I'm sorry! I suck at summaries!





	The Silencing of Phineas Flynn

Ferb was having a bad day. It was still no excuse, but it was at least a reason. Really, though, it had been a bad  _ week. _ Three of his classes had assigned big research projects and managed to pair him with the most useless kids in the class for partners, which meant he was stuck with all the work while they had practice for one thing or another, or just generally mucked about instead of doing any of their schoolwork. Normally Ferb would have been fine with that, he usually preferred working alone on school assignments anyway, but they’d managed to come up with the most obscure topics and they were all due by the following Monday. On top of all that, earlier that day he’d walked in on Vanessa playing tonsil hockey with some goth guy with greasy hair and clothes that looked like he’d rolled a hobo for them. Ferb knew there really wasn’t much chance for the gorgeous older girl to go for him, but dang it, he’d nursed that crush for years! 

Growling softly to himself, he refocused on his computer screen where he was busy researching the effect of flapper dresses on the rise of crossdressing and gender roles. Maybe next time his teachers would let him choose his own partners. Or let him work alone. He was just thinking he’d hit on something when his screen suddenly flickered and went dead, the glaring red of the battery indicator flashing accusingly against the black background. “No, no, no!!!” Ferb cried, tapping desperately at several keys on the off chance that his computer hadn’t just died on him in the middle of his research. “Hey bro!” Phineas’s cheery voice broke through his thoughts about how much trouble he’d get in for throwing his computer at the tree. It had just had a full charge two hours ago! How could it have died so quickly? “You’re not going to  _ believe  _ what happened at school today! So first Irving got sent to the principal’s office for trying to hack into the school’s security cameras, and then someone managed to flood the whole second floor with cheese, and---” Ferb glared up at the oblivious redhead as he continued regaling Ferb about the events of his day. He and Ferb were in the same year at school, but they only shared a few classes together by mandatory order of the principal, since last year they’d shared classes and had simultaneously wrecked the grading curve and tricked out nearly every electronic device in the classroom, including building the gym coach a new obstacle course to run the students through. They only saw each other for lunch and Art class now, but Ferb had taken to hiding in the library when not in classes all week in order to work on those assignments. 

He slammed his laptop shut and rolled over onto his back, covering his face with his hands in hopes that the redhead would get the hint and leave him alone, or at least stop talking, but no such luck. “Gee, Ferb! Your computer die already? I could have sworn we upgraded that thing two weeks ago! Maybe it needs a new battery? Or maybe it just can’t handle the upgrades we made to it. Maybe later we can take a look at it and try and figure out what happened! Anyway like I was saying. You missed an  _ epic  _ food fight during lunch today! Buford made me build a mashed potato catapult that landed a glob of potato right in the middle of Mr. Grigsby's forehead! He wasn’t even mad! You shoulda been there, Ferb. We coulda built an even better catapult, and a fort and everything! Where’d you run off to, anyway? I’ve hardly seen you all week! Oh! There you are Perry!” 

There was a chatter from the little platypus and then Phineas was off again, and Ferb felt his control finally snap. “Oh my god, would you just shut up already?!” he shouted, sitting up to glare at his stepbrother. Phineas froze, mouth open in mid-sentence and eyes wide as he stared at Ferb. “I mean seriously,  _ seriously!  _ Do you  _ ever _ just  _ shut up?  _ I really don’t care about the stupid food fight or how someone managed to flood the hall with cheese, and I don’t care about your stupid catapult! I just want you to shut up for once in your life and try to be at least some reflection of normal!” Ferb’s chest was heaving by the time he finished, still glaring at the redhead kneeling across from him. He didn’t see how wet Phineas’s eyes were or how pale he’d become, or the way his lower lip had started trembling. “I’m sorry, Ferb. I just…” Ferb cut him off with a raised hand. “I don’t care, Phineas! All I want is for you to shut up for once in your life!” 

Dead silence rang through the back yard for a long moment, Ferb glaring daggers at his stepbrother, daring him to try and open his mouth again. Nobody moved, nobody made a sound. Not even Perry. It was finally broken by the click of the sliding door opening, Candace walking out with Ferb’s computer charger dangling from her fingers. “Hang on a second, Stacy. Hey Ferb, mom asked me to bring this out to you. She figured you’d need it.” The teenager tossed his computer cable in his general direction before turning and heading back into his house, instantly reabsorbed into whatever conversation she’d been having with her BFF before being “inconvenienced”. Ferb looked away from the younger redhead to grab the cord and when he looked up again, Phineas was wordlessly climbing to his feet and stumbling toward the house like a marionette with damaged strings. Ferb paid him no mind, pushing the tongs of his charger into the outlet they’d installed in the side of the tree months ago when they learned trees channeled electricity in a similar way to powerlines. So far it had come in handy. It wasn’t quite as strong as a wall outlet in the house, but it worked. A moment later, Ferb’s screen was flickering to life, pulling up all the data he’d been afraid he’d lost. 

A couple hours later found Ferb wrapping up not only one, but two of his research projects and had started finding sources for the third. Saving his work and wrapping up his cable, he looked up with a “hey, Phin…” before realizing that the backyard was empty except for him, and that clouds were starting to roll in. The weatherman had been promising rain for a while, and he figured he’d wrapped up just in time. Gathering up his stuff, he headed inside. Phineas was probably watching TV in the living room. He’d just closed the door behind him when the first big drops of water started to fall.  _ Definitely  _ just in time. Leaving his laptop on the kitchen table, he stuck his head into the living room. “Phineas?” he called, but the room was empty. Frowning, he walked back into the kitchen to find Candace rifling through the cabinets looking for something to eat. “Candace, have you seen Phineas?” The teenager glanced back at him before returning her attention to the selection of crackers. “Not since this afternoon when I brought you your charger.” 

Ferb thought back for a minute before things clicked into place. His eyes widened and he felt claws twist his guts like a balloon animal. He’d yelled at Phineas. He’d  _ yelled _ at  _ Phineas! _ He’d told him to shut up and act normal! Telling someone like Phineas to act normal was like telling a bird to swim or a dog to walk on its front legs! It just wasn’t something you did!  _ What have I done?  _ He thought to himself, turning and racing up the stairs. Images of Phineas’s face flashed through his mind, eyes wide with hurt, bottom lip caught between his teeth to keep it from trembling. What the hell had he been thinking, saying all those things to his brother! Just the other day the boy had cried when he saw a butterfly caught in a spiderweb! 

Thundering his way to the top of the stairs, he slowed as he neared their shared bedroom door. It had been pushed closed, but when he tested the knob he was relieved to find it unlocked and boobytrap free--not that he expected the other boy to have boobytrapped it, but all the same. Pushing it open, he found the room oddly dark, the only light being from their fish tank and the floor lamp by Phineas’s bed. A bed that was empty and still perfectly made. Ferb let his eyes wander as he stepped in and closed the door behind him. “Phineas?” he called, keeping his voice low in case the boy was sleeping. There was no answer, but he saw one of the boxes he kept under his bed shift slightly.  _ Found him. _ Slow steps brought him to the edge of his bed, not wanting to scare away the other boy. “Phineas?” he tried again, getting down on his belly so he could see under the bed. What he found made his heart break. 

Phineas was curled into a tight little ball, face wet and eyes scrunched tight like he could block out the whole world. Perry was trapped close to the redhead’s chest, skinny arms wrapped around him in a grip that couldn’t have been comfortable, but the little monotreme didn’t seem to mind. “Phineas, I am  _ so  _ sorry about earlier.” He reached out toward the boy, but quickly retracted it when Perry growled. The claws tightened their grip on his insides. Perry had actually  _ growled  _ at him! Perry had never done that, not in the whole time they’d had him! “Phineas, I’m sorry. You gotta believe I didn’t mean any of it. I was angry, it had been a long week and I got stuck doing all the work for some research projects, and when you came out my computer had just died on me and I was afraid I’d just lost all my work and I took it out on you. I never should have done that, and I am so,  _ so  _ sorry, Phineas.”

The redhead opened his eyes and met Ferb’s, blue orbs swimming in tears that were threatening to continue falling, but he said nothing. Ferb sighed, shifting his upper half under the bed to get closer to his brother. Perry didn’t growl at him this time, but the look in the teal mammal’s eyes promised retribution if Ferb did anything to further hurt his brother. For an animal that wasn’t known for doing much, Ferb had no doubt the platypus could think of some things. He reached out a hand, close but not quite touching his brother. “You’re not normal, Phineas, and I’d never want you to be normal. I’m sorry I said those things, I really had no excuse for any of it, and you have to know I didn’t mean a word of it. I love the way that brain of yours works and I love the way you ramble when you get on a topic, and I love the way you understand me even when I don’t say a word. I don’t ever want you to change, Phin. I really am sorry…” 

He closed his eyes, fighting back his own tears. He couldn’t believe he’d said all those things to his brother. His brilliant, talented, optimistic brother. He felt a hot tear run down the side of his nose when something tapped his hand. His eyes sprung open to see Phineas’s hand next to his, fingertips just brushing the taller boy’s. Ferb turned his hand palm up in invitation, one that was accepted after a long moment. “Please say something, Phineas. I hate it when you’re quiet. You're not you when you’re quiet. You say what you’re thinking and you talk for me so I don’t have to, and that isn’t something I’d change for the world. Please, Phin.” The redhead cracked a small smile, and Ferb felt the vice loosening for the first time all afternoon. “I forgive you, Ferb,” Phineas said, voice hoarse and quiet, but it was still the best thing Ferb was sure he’d ever seen. “I know you didn’t really mean all of that stuff.” The tiniest of smiles curled his lips and Ferb felt the claws finally, finally release their grip and he felt he could breathe again. 

Crawling further under the bed, he pulled his brother into an awkward hug, feeling the way the redhead pressed into him, and he promised himself he’d  _ never  _ let his anger get the best of him again. Perry wiggled between their bodies and let out a contented purr, and Ferb knew the platypus had forgiven him too. All was right with his little world again.

~END~

  
  



End file.
